


Final Fantasy: New Horizons

by ZipperNova



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Crossdressing, Gen, Halloween Costumes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27313510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZipperNova/pseuds/ZipperNova
Summary: Gladio is introduced to a new game, and a new character that looks oddly like Ignis...
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia
Kudos: 9





	Final Fantasy: New Horizons

Gladio was well aware that some new game had come out. Noctis and Prompto were constantly glued to their handhelds, talking about absurd things like how many rocks they had or what bugs they had caught. He was baffled. Who in their right mind would sit around for  _ hours _ and play a game where all you do is build furniture and catch bugs.

"Dude, you've gotta catch stuff _other_ than fish." Prompto deadpanned.

"Don't tell me how to run my island." Noctis said without looking up. "Blathers doesn't like bugs. I'm doing him a favor."

Who the hell was Blathers and why did he need Noctis' bugs? It'd been the same thing for days. None of it made sense, and Gladio was starting to get annoyed.

"What in the hell are you guys playing?" He finally asked one afternoon.

"Animal Crossing." Noctis answered distractedly.

"And what is that?"

"It's this super chill game where you just like, kinda manage a town and collect stuff and make furniture and friends." Prompto said with a smile, eyes still glued to the game in his hands.

"Friends." Gladio scoffed. "'Cause you don't have any in real life." He added sarcastically.

"These friends are cute though." Noctis argued. "And they compliment you and give you things."

"Whatever." Gladio grumbled.

"Dude come look!" Prompto held his game out in Gladio's direction before pulling it back in front of him. "See, you get this island and people start moving in, and you can plant flowers and trees, and this guy is Blathers, he has a museum. You're supposed to give him fish and bugs and stuff but Noctis won't catch any bugs because he's being dumb."

"Dude! Blathers is terrified of bugs!" Noctis said, raising his voice.

"Oh my Six Noct! He can't have just fish in his museum!" Prompto argued with a smile.

"It's called an aquarium you dumb ass!"

"Your museum is fucking boring dude!"

"You're literally the only person that's seen it!"

"Yeah, and it's boring!"

Gladio had since turned his attention to Noctis' screen. It looked about the same as Prompto's so he still wasn't seeing the appeal.

"So, what's the point?" Gladio asked, interrupting their conversation.

"I don't know." Noctis shrugged.

"You chill, man." Prompto answered. "You just do what you want."

The game looked incredibly cute. Even the villagers were cute. Well, most of them were. Prompto had a cat looking one with squinted eyes.

"What the fuck is that?" Gladio asked, pointing at the character.

"That's Bob." Prompto ran up to the character in question and started chatting with him.

"He looks psychotic."

"He's not!"

"He looks like he's about to burn your fucking house down and take your insurance money."

"He wouldn't!"

"He might." Noctis threw in.

"He might…" Prompto agreed solemnly. "Well, I don't really want him on my island… but I can't get rid of him."

"You don't get to pick who lives there?" Gladio asked.

"Not really. You kinda do, but you gotta find them when you travel with Nook miles."

"The hell is a Nook mile?"

"They're like, the reward points in the game. You get them for doing tasks."

"And they do what?"

"Let you travel."

"And why would you do that?"

"So you can get different items and villagers!"

Gladio watched as Prompto ran around the screen and hit a rock with his shovel.

"I don't get it." He grumbled, looking over to Noctis' screen again.

"You wouldn't. You'd probably rather play Halo or something." Noctis snickered. Gladio rolled his eyes. As if he knew what Halo was.

"Is that another cat?" He asked as he pointed at Noctis' screen.

"Yeah."

"Why's he gray? Is he Bob?"

"No that's Raymond." Noctis suddenly pulled his game to his chest and went bug eyed. "Raymond! Prompto, Raymond!"

"Dude! Tell Gladio!"

"Okay, Gladio, look! So this is Raymond." Noctis initiated a conversation with the cat. "Does he look familiar?"

"No."

Noctis groaned in annoyance at the immediate response. "Dude,  _ look at him _ !"

"I don't know any gray cats with glasses, Noct. Sorry it's not as common as you thought."

"Dude, he's Ignis!"

Gladio frowned at the screen and stared at the bored looking cat. He did have glasses much like Ignis', and he was wearing a gray suit vest that Gladio  _ knew  _ he had seen Ignis in before. "I guess I can see it."

"Okay but get this, his preferred theme is civic, which is like, city esque, and kinda formal? I don't know how to explain it really. But he carries a cup of coffee sometimes and he cleans and stuff and he just  _ looks  _ like him! His bio in another game even said something about him being precise and he has to wear his glasses a certain way or he won't get any work done at all that day!"

"Raymond is like, cocky though, so he doesn't sound like Ignis when you talk to him." Prompto added.

Gladio stared blankly at the young prince, waiting for him to explain why all this information was so important.

"Dude, it's  _ freaking Ignis _ ! Tell me that isn't Ignis!"

"All right, it does sound like Ignis." Gladio conceded.

"Right!"

"But he doesn't really look like him."

"Are you  _ blind _ !? He looks just like him!"

"Ignis' hair doesn't look like that!"

"Okay, so Ignis has darker hair! It's still like, the bangs though! Dude, pull up a picture of Ignis!"

Gladio pulled out his phone and did as he was asked. He found a picture Prompto had sent them all about a month back, one of all four of them together. He didn't really feel like hearing Noctis poke fun at him for pulling up one Gladio had of just Ignis from the times just the two of them had hung out. They were mostly ones taken when Ignis wasn't paying attention. Which would have made Noctis make fun of him more, so, really, he didn't need to know that he had those.

Holding up the zoomed in picture of Ignis next to the character on Noctis' gamepad, Gladio's eye shifted back and forth for a quiet moment. Prompto leaned forward to get a better view of Gladio's face.

"Shit, that is Ignis."

"See! That's why I keep him on my island." Noctis smiled. Gladio's eyebrows knitted together in thought. This Raymond cat really did look a lot like Ignis. Even acted like him apparently. A little. And really… the game didn't seem that bad. Maybe he could get it so he could relax more on his down time. Yeah, and understand what all the fuss was about with Noctis and Prompto.

"What uh, what did you say this game was called again?"

**xXx**

Gladio had picked up a copy of the game a few days later. He brought it home to Iris, claiming it was for her, when in truth he had very much bought it for himself. But upon carrying the game across the threshold of his family manor, he knew he had bought it for the wrong reason. Some might even say for a  _ bad _ reason. He couldn't bring himself to borrow her gamepad and play it.

The days following the purchase, Gladio had looked up the cartoon cat again. The similarities were striking. To think, Ignis as a cat. A cat in a video game! A video game Gladio now owned. Solely, so he could have cat Ignis on his island. Or, Iris' Island, rather…

Iris had yet to touch the game after the initial start up. She complained about it being slow and too boring. Gladio didn't blame her. From what Noctis and Prompto had shown him, he was worried he himself wouldn't be able to stick to it long enough to get Raymond on his island. But after a couple weeks had passed and Iris still hadn't booted the game up again, Gladio asked if he could give it a try. The excuse that Noctis and Prompto wouldn't shut up about it ready at the tip of his tongue. She had shrugged him off, claiming not to care if he kept it for himself. And thus began Gladio's slow descent into total obsession.

It started with more internet searches. How did he find him? What did he need to get him? What would make him happy? Gladio could care less about what other animals were on his island or how they were doing. All that mattered was Raymond.

Iris had eventually called him out, complaining that she could never play her games because her dumb big brother was playing a silly animal game. And it was true. He had started devoting all his free time to the game. He even went as far as to take it to the citadel with him while Iris was at school. Imagine the look on his face when he received notice of his sister  _ demanding _ his presence while in the middle of training. The other crownsguard and glaives laughed at him as he handed over his sister's yellow gamepad, cheeks the slightest shade of red from embarrassment.

But it had all been worth it. After hours and hours of gameplay, time devoted to trying to encourage Raymond's appearance, he arrived. Gladio nearly screamed. He sat up so fast from where he had been reclining on his bed, it was a miracle he hadn't given himself whiplash. He quickly set to work getting everything set up for Raymond to stay, then sat back with a grin as the cat gave his temporary goodbyes as he returned to his original home to collect his things.

A part of Gladio had somewhat dreaded this day. What was he going to do now that he had finally gotten the villager on his island? Surely he would get bored with the game now. Following around the characters got boring quickly. But that didn't happen.

Once Raymond had returned and was fully moved in, Gladio continued to play the game. He gave Raymond gifts and talked to him constantly, trying to get all the dialogue he could, even though there were plenty of other islanders with the same lines. He'd even follow him around the island some days. There was one time he even pretended that Raymond's house was his too and he returned to it after a long day's work.

...He knew he was being a stalker. If Raymond had a conscience, he'd probably hate Gladio and leave the island with how creepy he was being. But he couldn't help it. Obsessing over Raymond was the closest he would ever get to being with Ignis. Which, also sounded weird. But the cat looked so much like him, Gladio couldn't help but be mesmerized.

Six help Raymond though when Gladio realized he could gift the islanders clothes. And may Six rest all nine of his cat lives when Gladio realized Raymond would wear almost anything he gave him. Even the maid dress.

**xXx**

Halloween was fast approaching, and the four friends typically did something together every year. Since they were all too old for trick or treating, and Noctis never really got to participate traditionally anyways, they typically settled on their own little celebration. Costumes, junk food, scary movies or video games, it was one of their favorite traditions. This year though, three fourths of the group had a plan. One that Ignis wouldn't approve of. Which is exactly why the other three were leaving him out of it.

It had all started when Prompto brought up Raymond in the maid uniform. Gladio's heart had skipped a beat, or stopped entirely, he wasn't sure. The younger two both knew he played on his sister's game, the incident where she demanded it back in the middle of his training having made it to Noctis' ears in no time. But he had kept his Raymond in a dress a secret. So how would they know anything about it?

"Yeah, people online are talking about how Raymond will wear a maid uniform no problem. So I was thinking…" Prompto trailed off with a sly smile. "Since Halloween is coming up, why don't we all dress up like our favorite characters? We wouldn't even have to do much, and it'd still be super comfortable!"

"I like that." Noctis said with a slow grin.

"What did the dress have to do with that?" Gladio asked.

"Well, if we all convince him to be Raymond, maybe we could get Ignis in a maid dress."

"Why do you wanna see Specs in a maid dress?" Noctis snickered.

"Uh, because he looks like Raymond! The internet would eat it up!"

"So you want him to wear the dress  _ and  _ put it online?" Gladio said incredulously.

"Well, uh… yeah, I guess you're right. Ignis would never agree to pics huh?"

"Forget pics, he's never gonna put the damn dress on."

"I'm in." Noctis interrupted. The other two quickly looked at him.

"Why?" Gladio asked.

"Because it sounds fun. Specs is uptight and never dresses up anyways. If we tell him we're doing a theme, maybe he'll agree. We can all get ready here so he has no way of backing out."

"And if he doesn't wanna wear it?"

"We'll just tell him to try it on so we can see, tell him it's what Raymond wears and how similar they both are, and that he can take it off after."

"You say it like that's all it takes for him to agree."

"Could always make it a royal decree."

The three grew quiet as they thought over those last words. Ignis was very devoted to his job, too devoted, to be sure. If Noctis made the costume a royal demand, Ignis would without a doubt follow through.

" 'S kinda messed up." Gladio mumbled. Prompto nodded in agreement.

"An option." Noctis shrugged.

For whatever reason, and Gladio never did truly understand why, the three of them had agreed that Ignis needed to wear a maid dress. Gladio was less worried about trying to get Ignis to agree to it, and more worried about what would happen in his pants at the sight.

Noctis had decided to go with Punchy, going as far as to get black cat ears, painting his eyes up black, and even using purple eyeshadow. Prompto went with Isabelle, which Gladio wouldn't have guessed would be his first choice. He had to admit though, the little ponytail Prompto had atop his head looked great with the red hair tie he used. Gladio himself had gone with Apollo. He was a big tough guy, dressed cool. Gladio had him on his island and had grown to like him, plus he was easy enough to look like. He just added yellow paint to nose and added some white hair color spray. Ignis had hesitantly agreed at first, but once he saw everyone else, was more willing. That was, until he saw his costume. While everyone else was wearing clothes similar to what their character typically wore--an orange plaid type shirt, a green sweater vest, a leather jacket--Ignis quickly noted that his outfit was a bit more specific.

"But Ignis, he's just like you!" Prompto practically whined, trying to convince the older man to wear the outfit.

"Just because I clean up after Noct doesn't mean I'll be wearing a maid's dress." Ignis said with no real malice.

"Ignis, Raymond looks exactly like you. We just wanna see how close we can get you to look. For fun." Noctis said nonchalantly. "Look, you can take it off after we see."

"Yeah! No one said you gotta wear it all night!" Prompto quickly added.

Ignis remained silent as he looked his conniving friends over. He eyed the dress again before returning his gaze to Noctis.

"I'll be taking it off as soon as you've had your laugh." Ignis said firmly. Or as firmly as he could with pink dusted cheeks.

"Give me a chuckle Specs." Noctis smiled. As Ignis turned to head into the bathroom, Noctis called out to him again. Turning around, Ignis watched as Noctis held up two black cat ear clips with a cocky smirk. Marching over and snatching the ears out of his leige's hand, Ignis then headed to the bathroom to put on the offending items.

"Done and done." Noctis said as he placed his hands behind his head.

"I don't know whether I should be impressed or disappointed." Gladio scoffed. He was excited that Ignis was going through with the costume, but he was annoyed he gave in so easily to Noctis. "I'm almost jealous he bends so easily to you."

Noctis gave a huff of a chuckle as he closed his eyes, looking for all the world like he just accomplished some daring feat.

It felt like forever before Ignis left the bathroom. Maybe Gladio was just excited and it seemed like it took a long time. Or maybe Ignis needed to work up the nerve to come out. Or maybe he needed help putting it on. Gladio's mind ran with the thought. Perhaps he could offer his assistance. Before Gladio could make some rash decision, the bathroom door opened and Ignis stepped out.

The black and white dress stopped above the knees, just below mid thigh. With a poofy skirt, white apron, short frilly sleeves, and white stockings to match; Ignis wore his new outfit with as much pride as he could muster. The other three friends seemed to share their amazement.

"You look really good." Prompto said softly.

"It fits perfectly." Gladio added.

"I know his size." Noctis shrugged. Several hours from now Gladio would find himself wondering how Noctis was able to pick out the perfect size without giving anything away to Ignis, but for now, he was thankful.

Ignis looked amazing. It was almost more than Gladio could bear. And the cat ears. He was worried he would find it too sexual, but the red cheeks and shy demeanour left Gladio thinking about how cute Ignis was instead.

The dress looked amazing on him, the muscle in his arms and legs adding a sort of forbidden appeal to the onsemble. And the stockings? Noctis really went all out. Gladio was mesmerized. Never in his life did he ever think he would see Ignis in a maid dress. Gods bless him though, stood before him was a wet dream he had never known about.

"Lemme get a pic!" Prompto said excitedly as he jumped to his feet.

"Absolutely not." Ignis ducked his head as he attempted to flee back to the bathroom.

"Now, now, Specs. One group photo won't hurt. We all worked hard to look good." Noctis said as he stopped his friend and stood beside him. Gladio joined Ignis on his other side and Prompto stood by Noctis. With his phone held in front of them, the group got a couple selfies. Noctis poked the sides of Ignis' mouth up into a forced smile as he refused to express any sort of joy at the experience. While their photo didn't show much of their outfits, it was definitely enough to be a reminder of what Ignis had worn that night.

They allowed him to change after the photo like they promised. Once Ignis returned though, he still doned the cat ears.

"Everyone else is wearing them, and it  _ is  _ Halloween. I can't exactly wear nothing now can I?" He argued.

The night continued as their Halloween celebrations normally would. More pictures were taken, scary movies were watched, and too much candy consumed. All was as it should be in the Caelum apartment. That is, until Prompto and Noctis decided to reveal the trick they had pulled.

"You know Ignis, Raymond doesn't wear a maid dress." Noctis had said suddenly.

"Yeah, he actually wears a button up and a vest. Like you!" Prompto smiled. As if they hadn't tricked their friend into wearing a dress just for the fun of it.

"Excuse me?" Ignis deadpanned. Gladio's eyes flicked between the younger two and Ignis. Why they would sign their own death certificate he had no idea. At least he himself could say he had nothing to do with. He had wanted to see it, sure, but he didn't suggest it or necessarily encourage it. He was able to get off by just having the memory. Literally.

"Yeah, everyone just  _ puts  _ Raymond in a dress. But he does look a lot like you, so why not ask you to do it too?"

"You put me in a dress, because you wanted to  _ see  _ me in one?" Ignis said with the twitch of a brow.

"No one forced you to wear it Specs." Noctis said with a sly grin.

"You were in on this?" Ignis asked as his head snapped to Gladio. The larger man held up his hands placatingly.

"I had nothing to do with this! I agreed to dressing up as the characters!"

Ignis stared hard at him. Gladio wasn't the type to come up with such weird schemes, surely he would believe him.

"Prompto's birthday was a few days ago, just look at it as a gift for him." Noctis said nonchalantly.

"All I wanted was to see you in a dress." Prompto said whimsically, playing along. Ignis let out an exasperated sigh.

Gladio had started playing Animal Crossing because Noctis showed him Raymond. While dressing up as the animals had been fun, his interest had started to weign. Gladio did occasionally visit his old island, but for the most part Iris had finally taken it up and done what she wanted with it. Which was fine. Gladio had to admit, the real Ignis was more fun than Raymond the cat.

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't supposed to be a Halloween fic but I couldn't figure out how to get Ignis in the dress. Then I ended up being pressed for time, so I hope this is good.


End file.
